AKQA : Under The Thumb
Making television social again.
Editor's Pick
At the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, AKQA and Viacom launched "MTV Under the Thumb," a social TV app and on-demand video service. The project, which will go live in Europe on the Appleand Androidplatforms next month, lets users invite friends to watch shows at the same time, while live-chatting within the app. There's also a function that connects your cell phone to a web browser or TV to control playback.
The app is only available in certain European countries and is a step up from MTV's WatchWith co-viewing app in the U.S., adding the remote control functionality and on-demand viewing features.
There's a tiered subscription model, so users can download the app and access some features for free, with the majority of content behind a paywall, subject to a subscription fee or a MTV Mobile cellphone contract.
